Lynn Grove Academy

School report Lynn Grove Academy Lynn Grove, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, NR31 8AP Inspection dates 13–14 May 2015 Previous inspection: Inadequate 4 Overall effectiveness This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Summary of key findings for parents and pupils This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because While teaching is improving, there are still some At times, teachers do not make sufficiently effective inconsistencies. use of questioning to draw on what students know A few teachers still do not make sufficient use of and to extend their thinking. assessment information when planning their Not all teachers mark students’ work as frequently lessons to make sure that work that is set at the as they should or do enough to ensure that right level for all students. This applies mostly to students know what they need to do to improve. work set for the most-able students. Until the time of the Ofsted monitoring visits, There are times when students finish work only to academy leaders had not undertaken sufficiently find that no additional work has been prepared to rigorous checks to evaluate the quality of teaching extend them further. or its impact on students’ progress. In some lessons, teachers are slow to spot when students lose concentration and do not respond quickly enough to getting them back on task. The school has the following strengths With the support of the governing body and the There are good arrangements to ensure that academy Trust, leaders are bringing about rapid students are kept safe. improvements to some aspects of the quality of Students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural teaching. development are good. The academy prepares Students’ progress is improving and attainment in students well for life in modern Britain and for the GCSE examinations is rising. This applies across a next stage of their education or employment. range of subjects in addition to English and The governing body and academy Trust are well mathematics. informed about all aspects of the academy’s work Behaviour during lessons and around the academy and provide leaders with good support. is good. Inspection report: Lynn Grove Academy, 13–14 May 2015 2 of 11 Information about this inspection Inspectors observed students during lessons and looked at the work in their books. Some of the observations were conducted jointly with the headteacher or with other members of the leadership team. Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior, subject and other leaders, groups of students, members of the governing body and representatives of the Creative Education Trust. Inspectors considered the views expressed in the 76 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. They also considered the views expressed in the school’s own recent survey of parents and carers’ opinions and those in 41 responses to the staff questionnaire. Inspectors scrutinised the academy’s data about students’ attainment and progress, their behaviour and attendance. Inspectors also considered documents evaluating the academy’s performance, its plans for improvement, notes about the work of the governing body and policies concerning the safeguarding of students. Inspection team Godfrey Bancroft, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Brian Hawkins Additional Inspector Paul Smith Additional Inspector Duncan Cooper Additional Inspector Lynn Lowery Additional Inspector Inspection report: Lynn Grove Academy, 13–14 May 2015 3 of 11 Full report In accordance with section 13 (5) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires significant improvement. Information about this school This is a slightly larger than average-sized secondary academy. The predecessor school converted to become an academy in October 2011. It became a sponsor-led academy and part of Creative Education Trust in March 2015. The academy’s last inspection was in December 2013, when it was judged to have serious weaknesses. Since then, it has received three Ofsted monitoring visits to check on its progress. Most students are White British. The proportion of pupils who come from minority ethnic groups and the percentage who speak English as an additional language are both well below average. The proportion of students for whom the academy receives the pupil premium (additional government funding to support students who are in the care of the local authority or who are known to be eligible for free school meals) is broadly average. The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is broadly average. The academy currently has a very small number students who are taught off-site at Options East and at Easton College. The academy meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress. What does the school need to do to improve further? Promote greater consistency in teaching and improve students’ progress by making sure that: all teachers use the information they have about what students know and can do to plan work that is set at the right level and moves their learning forward the most-able students always have work that is challenging and moves them on to the next stage of learning when students finish work, additional challenges are provided which move them forward and improve their knowledge and understanding teachers are alert to any student who is losing concentration, and intervene quickly to get them back on task all teachers use questioning effectively to draw on students’ knowledge and to extend their thinking all teachers mark students’ work as often as they should and check that students have acted on the advice that marking gives them on how to improve their work. Ensure that leaders undertake close checks on the quality of teaching and the impact it is having on students’ progress and achievement. Inspection report: Lynn Grove Academy, 13–14 May 2015 4 of 11 Inspection judgements The leadership and management requires improvement Until recently, leaders have not checked sufficiently on the quality of teaching or on whether it is leading to students’ making better progress. Recent changes, following on from recent monitoring visits by Ofsted, have resulted in improvements to leaders’ monitoring, with consequent improvements in teaching and students’ achievement. Rigorous action has been taken to eliminate some under-performance in teaching. However, leaders have themselves identified that these changes are ‘work in progress’ and that more needs to be done in order to sustain and build on the recent improvements. Academy leaders have yet to ensure that teaching across the academy is consistent. For example, not all teachers make sufficiently good use of assessment information to plan their lessons and others have not yet fully embraced the academy’s expectations for the marking of students’ work. Staff with responsibilities for managing subjects have received training to help them undertake their roles more effectively. This includes opportunities to evaluate the quality of teaching in their subjects and to gain a greater insight into the messages given by assessment information. Subject leaders have embraced these opportunities with enthusiasm, although they have not ensured that all teachers have a strong enough grasp of how to use assessment information to identify gaps in students’ learning. Self-evaluation is accurate and academy leaders have a clear insight into what still needs to be improved. They have taken on board the messages from the recent Ofsted monitoring visits to prepare plans to sustain the current improvements in teaching and in students’ progress. The academy’s improvement plan is an accessible and helpful document which identifies precisely the right areas to develop. Many teachers have benefited greatly from training opportunities that have helped them to improve their performance. Appraisal of performance by senior leaders is now much more thorough and systematic than in the past. Performance management arrangements are also used appropriately to identify and reward good teaching for its impact on improving students’ progress. The relatively small number of respondents to Ofsted’s online Parent View survey were critical of many aspects of the academy’s work. These include concerns about students’ behaviour and safety. However, inspectors found these aspects of the academy’s work to be good. The academy is working effectively to help parents to support their children’s learning and to provide them with information about how well their child is progressing. Assessment arrangements have been suitably modified to take account of changes to the National Curriculum. The academy has chosen to continue to use National Curriculum levels to assess students’ progress and this is working well. The Key Stage 4 curriculum has also been significantly modified to provide courses that are better suited to students’ abilities and interests, and are more likely to ensure they gain increasingly successful outcomes. Students speak highly of these changes, the courses they follow and how the changes are improving their achievement. The academy makes good provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The many additional activities provided are enjoyed

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